King Darkstrider
Darkstrider was a famous Selee Elf and King of the Elven people between RC12198 and RC12850. Son of King Dalamarn and father of Noctus and Moonsfell, he was also a Shadonian Master and tactician of the highest order. Darkstrider took the throne when his father was killed in the destruction of Shangri'La in RC12198 but was already a legendary figure before that time. Darkstrider led many units into battle against The Draconians during The War of The Dragon and was instrumental in bringing the war to a close in RC11780 when he was able to entrap The Mighty Gargan in a magical prison deep beneath the earth. He also helped write the disarmament treaty that the Ashurian Alliance put into place with the surrender of their Dragon-kin brothers. When the War of Ages broke out in RC12042, the then Prince Darkstrider was once again called to lead the Elves in battle but disliked fighting against The Dwarves whom he was personal friends with more than one. He was away at war when a splinter-group of Elven fanatics launched the plague that began wiping out the Landris people, but saw firsthand the horrible suffering and lingering deaths it caused. Urging the King to look into this horrific incident, Darkstrider and King Dalamarn's head Scoutmaster - An Elf by the name of Greystep - were tasked with finding the elves responsible and bringing them to justice. The Dwarves, led by King Bolthar II slow their war with the Elves in an attempt to find a cure for The Landris, but to no avail. King Dalamar officially offers terms of peace to King Bolthar II and this is accepted, the war ending in a stalemate. Though Darkstrider and Greystep eventually track the Elves responsible for the Landris atrocity to their headquarters, the fanatical Elves kill themselves in a magical sacrifice of which Darkstrider escapes but Greystep does not. In the next few years Darkstrider is joined by Greystep's son, an Elf named Darksong who turns out to be every bit as good as his father and becomes the new Scoutmaster when the final few vestiges of the genocide cult are wiped out. Unfortunately, in a living example of history repeating itself, a charismatic Dwarven supremacist called Steelhammer manages to overthrow King Bolthar II in a short-lived civil war but in so doing manages to whip up enough support to lead a good half of the Dwarven people in a sucidal 'holy war' against the Elves and they strike deep into the heart of Elven civilisation causing massive casualties on both sides. In this disaster King Dalamarn is killed and Prince Darkstrider returns to the ruined Shangri'la (now known as The Deadlands) as King Darkstrider. With Steelhammer and his fanatics dead, King Bolthar II is able to wrestle control of The Underealm back and calls off all hostilities toward the Elves. The newly appointed Elven King meets with The Lord of The Dwarves that same year and arranges a surrender, fearful not only for the annihilation of his people, but also for the Dwarves as well. Both Kings agree that the Elven and Dwarven people need to be seperated, that too much bad blood exists between them, and Darkstrider recommends the Elves people rebuild their lives in the once distant elven homeland of Ath. Agreed on the course of action the Elven people make preperations for the mass exodus while Dwarven smiths create a massive gate which is then enchanted by Elven Sorcerers. This unnamed gate (recored in history as 'The Gate of Old') would activate only at the whim of someone of either Bolthar or Darkstriders' blood and, in RC12200 the remainding survivors of the Elven race leave Orlia through the gate to their ancestral homeland of Ath. Shortly after their arrival in Ath and the building begins on the new Elven capital of Dara-Vell, Darkstrider married one his Royal Handmaidens,who became Queen Twilight. The two were happily married for almost five-hundred and ninety years, in which time they helped re-create the Elven nation and even restablish contact with their long-long cousins in the city of Goldenleaf. When Twilight died in RC12788, Darkstrider was devistated but he was required to re-marry by law and so took another of his handmaidens: The Lady Shadina, as his bride. Shortly after the birth of his second son, Prince Moonsfell in RC12841 Darksong uncovered that Queen Shadina I as she now was, was in fact responsible for Twilights death and also planned to murder Darkstrider, Noctus and eventually Moonsfell as well. Despite his initial rejection of the plan King Darkstrider fled back to Orlia with his son Noctus in RC12850 leaving Darksong to care for Prince Moonsfell. For the remainder of his life Darkstrider lived in the human community of Greyfields but the people there never knew of the legend that walked among them. He trained Noctus in the ways of the Shadonian but never stopped wondering as to the fate of the son he was forced to leave behind. King Darkstrider died in the winter of RC12960. Navigation Back to Darkest Knight infobase Category:Fan Fiction